Cavs eager to extend season again

CLEVELAND Long past midnight on what was now early Saturday morning, LeBron James sat exhausted in front of the media following Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

Exhausted, but for a moment at least, satisfied more basketball this season awaited him and his Cavaliers.

Cleveland’s 137-116 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 forced a Game 5 at 9 p.m., Monday, in Oakland. The Warriors hold a commanding 3-1 series lead, but the Cavs still have a chance to defend their NBA title.

“Listen, at the end of the day,” James said, “we want to just try to put ourselves in position to play another game, and we did that tonight and hopefully we can do it Monday night where we can come back here (for a Game 6).

“So our mindset is try to go up there and get one. Which is probably one of the toughest environments we have in this league, along with our building. And so we look forward to the challenge and the matchup.”

His team’s season saved for a few more days following the memorable win Friday, the best basketball player in the world felt like a man who played 41 intense minutes with his season on the line. When asked if he was drained emotionally and physically by the previous three hours — which featured the Cavs setting several Finals records, in addition to seven technical fouls (including one on James), a few loose ball scrums and a flagrant foul — James said, “I'm about there. I'm about there.”

That’s not a bad thing, though, to James.

“It lets me know that I did what I was supposed to do when I'm emotionally and physically drained at the end of a Finals game,” James said. “If I'm not, then I didn't do what I was supposed to do. So that would be two games in a row where I felt like that, and now I got to get my mind ready once again.”

Of course, the feeling was much different after Game 3. James had played well, but the Cavs had failed to protect a late lead and watched the Warriors rally in the final two minutes to take a 3-0 series lead.

Facing elimination, James didn’t panic Friday.

“Live in the moment," James said. "We have a great opportunity to give ourselves another opportunity to keep going. We played well in Game 3, well enough to win, and we just didn't do it. But tonight we came out and we stuck to the game plan our coaching staff put together and ... this was as close to a 48-minute game we played in the postseason. ... It was big for us.”

The Cavs took charge of Game 4 from the outset, surging to a 26-11 lead on their way to a 49-33 lead after one quarter. The 49 points set a Finals record for points in any quarter.

"It's the first time all series, but we just kept attacking, kept attacking and understood they were never going to quit," said Cavs All-Star guard Kyrie Irving, who scored 40 points Friday.

After hearing chatter about how special the Warriors thought it would be close out the series in Cleveland, the Cavs were determined to come out the aggressor Friday.

“As individuals, everybody plays for something, and for whatever reason we bottled it up and were able to put that out there on the court,” Cavs guard J.R. Smith said. “Nobody wanted to go home, especially on your home court.”

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr thought the Cavs played with a greater physicality than his team, “and they came out and handed it to us.”

The activity of Cavs forward Tristan Thompson was one obvious difference. After grabbing 11 rebounds through three games, he nearly matched that total Friday with 10, four on the offensive glass. He grabbed five rebounds within the first five minutes.

His fifth rebound was a tip-in to give the Cavs the 26-11 lead. By that point, all five starters had scored. James had four assists on his way to a record ninth career triple-double in the Finals. Smith and Kevin Love each had hit a pair 3s. Irving, 0-for-7 on 3s in Game 3, had hit a tough step-back 3 on his first shot of the night on his way to making seven 3s.

“I think they hit us first,” Warriors All-Star guard Klay Thompson said. “We didn’t have any type of response, which is inexcusable at this point in the season. … They blitzed us. They had almost 50 points. That’s ridiculous.”

The Cavs kept burying 3-pointers all night (shooting 24-of-45 for the game), scored a stunning 86 first-half points and maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half.

"We are here for a reason," Irving said. "We're going against a juggernaut of a team, but we’re a juggernaut, too. We have some special pieces."

The Cavs’ next challenge will be coming up with the encore Monday night, and doing it on the road, to extend their season yet again.

"We understand how special that team is down there," Irving said. "... So we have to be even more locked in and more focused. But if we come with the same mentality that we came with tonight, we'll be in a better position in Oakland."

Reach Chris at 330-580-8345 or

chris.beaven@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @cbeavenREP

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